Do you remember ice cream trucks? So fun in the summertime! All of the neighborhood kids flocking to the street when they hear the sound of the music-box like tune blasting from the ice cream truck. Change flying, ice cream dripping everywhere and kids with the biggest smiles 🙂

One of our favorite popsicle treats is the Creamsicle. Creamy vanilla ice cream surrounded by cool orange flavored ice. So we thought, why not make something new and unique with these flavors we love so much? So here, we present to you our Orange Creamsicle Cake Bars! They are unbelievably delicious. You will want the whole pan to yourself and you’ll want to hear that ice cream truck music playing while you eat them. The ultimate song of summer.

These will be a great addition to your 4th of July spread or weekend picnic. They taste best when kept cool so make room in your cooler!

Happy Summer Solstice! We hope you all are having a fabulous summer.

A microplane works great for zesting citrus!

Line pan with parchment “sling” for easy removal after baking and frosting.

Cleanly removed from pan and ready to cut into bars!

Orange Creamsicle Cake Bars

Base:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• Zest from one large orange
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
• 3 TBS fresh orange juice
• ¾ tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Butter an  8”x8” pan then line with parchment so that two opposite sides have an overhang. Butter the parchment and set pan aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the orange zest and whisk again to separate and coat all the little pieces of zest. You can even use your fingers to be sure the zest clumps are all broken up and evenly coated.  Set bowl aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the butter, egg, egg yolk, orange juice and vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 18 minutes or just until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from oven to wire rack and cool for 5 minutes.

Syrup:

• ¼ cup fresh orange juice
• ¼ cup sugar

While the base is in the oven, combine the orange juice and sugar in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30-60 seconds (depending on your microwave, this could vary) until the sugar is completely dissolved.

After the base has cooled for about 5 minutes, use a pastry brush and coat the entire top of the base as evenly as possible with the syrup. Allow to cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting:

• ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups powder sugar
• 1 TBS vanilla bean paste
• ¼ tsp salt
• Zest from one large orange

Beat butter and half of sugar for about 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add remaining sugar, vanilla bean paste and beat until well combined. Add more powder sugar if needed to get the consistency you like. Mix in orange zest.

Spread frosting evenly over cooled base. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting.

To cut bars, use the parchment “sling” to remove from pan. Cut into 16 bars and enjoy! These bars are best served cold, straight from the refrigerator and keep well in an air-tight container for about 1 week.

Makes 16 bars